


Light and Dark, Ups and Downs

by lynndyre



Category: Tales of Vesperia
Genre: Best Friends, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-21
Updated: 2009-12-21
Packaged: 2017-10-04 21:13:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/34184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lynndyre/pseuds/lynndyre
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Flynn's leave of absence in pursuit of the Giganto monsters was progressing roughly as things usually did when Yuri was involved.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Light and Dark, Ups and Downs

Flynn's leave of absence in pursuit of the Giganto monsters was progressing roughly as things usually did when Yuri was involved. The Weasand was deserted but for himself, Yuri, and Repede, foot traffic seeking other routes between Nordopolica and Mantaic until the huge hermit drill had been removed from the cave path. They were wearing the creature down, but its stamina and attack capacity were beyond Flynn's previous experience. He blocked another volley of spines from the armoured carapace, but his shield blocked his vision as well, increasing his blind spot and allowing the creature to force him backwards.

A moment later, it proved Flynn had not been the only one caught unaware. The monster lashed out as Repede leapt forward, flinging the dog into the air. Flynn threw his sword away just in time, as Repede caught him full across the chest. He stumbled back, and felt his heel catch on air.

Flynn shoved Repede forward, watched Yuri yell and grab for them both. Then the last bit of edge gave way under Flynn's foot, and his center of balance was too far back to let him do anything but fall. His right arm clipped the rock hard enough to make him gasp despite his armour, and there was only rushing air and darkness.

Flynn opened his eyes to deep darkness, and eldritch phosphorescence floating somewhere above him. The lightweed didn't grow nearly so thick away from the path, but after a moment he could tell he hadn't fallen as far as he'd feared.

"Flynn! Flynn! You'd better be alive, you idiot!" There was enough light on the path to show Yuri's silhouette, his head and shoulders out over the edge. Beside him, a smaller, pointed silhouette whined and barked.

Flynn started to sit up, but fell back and curled in on himself when putting weight on his right arm sent a bolt of pain all the way up to his neck. It was a long moment before he could draw enough breath to answer. "I'm here! There's a ledge."

"You okay? Land on anything breakable?"

Flynn flexed his fingers, cautiously, but though the pain flared again, his fingers did move. Tentative stretching of his legs proved that they also obeyed him, but he would be black and blue nearly everywhere. "I don't think so. Just bruised. The hermit drill?"

"Got him! He was on his last legs anyway. Can you see a way up?"

"I can't see the wall." Flynn made a fist, and his hand trembled. Even with light, he wouldn't have trusted his current strength.

"Alright. Hang on, I'll come down."

"Yuri! Don't be stupid!" Yuri's dark head retreated from the edge, and for a moment Flynn thought he'd listened, as Yuri spoke to Repede, telling him to run back to Mantaic, and bring rope. Repede's answering bark echoed down to Flynn, and running paws retreated toward the desert entrance. Then Yuri reappeared, lit by the glow of several bunches of phosphorescent flowers stuffed through his belt.

"Just wait for the rope! Yuri!!" But then Yuri was over the edge, clamouring down, and Flynn had to be silent or risk Yuri's grip on the rock. He let himself sink back to lying flat, unwilling to lose his view of Yuri to the stability that sitting against the wall would provide. He held his breath every time Yuri paused.

When Yuri's feet touched down on the rock ledge, Flynn could breathe again, but it seemed even harder than before to force himself up to sitting. He tucked his right arm in against his stomach, and shifted sideways to lean into the rock. There was light enough to see the precipice now, illuminating the breadth of the ledge and the cliff face. "You should have stayed on the path. Now we'll both need to be rescued."

"Yeah, and how were you going to get up that on your own?" Yuri spat out a flower he'd had between his teeth and made a face at the lingering taste. His tongue glowed, very faintly. The rest of the weeds he pulled from his belt and set against the rock wall.

"I would have managed!" The look he received was pure Yuri, all exasperation and impatience.

"He'll be back before dusk. Not that we'll be able to tell, in here." Yuri squatted down, one hand on Flynn's shoulder, and Flynn couldn't bite back the hiss of pain. "How badly have you bashed yourself up?"

"I landed on my shoulder rather than my neck. I think the worst of the bruising is from my armour."

"That's why I never wear the stuff." Yuri urged him forward, hands slipping behind and underneath to release the fastenings of Flynn's shoulder plates.

"I'd be a lot worse off if I didn't, Yuri. And you should at least wear gloves." Yuri's hands were dark with rock dust and had left tacky prints on Flynn's armour, almost black in the green light. "How many times did you cut yourself on that wall?"

"They're just scrapes. Or are you worried about having my dirty hands on your uniform?"

Flynn blinked, and shook his head."The blood on your hands should be on mine, as well. And I haven't done half as much to clean it away." He tugged at the fastenings of his right gauntlet with his left hand, pulled at the fingers of his glove until it jarred the rest of his arm, and he ground his teeth against the pain. "I can't even take my gloves off."

"Flynn? You're gonna hurt yourself, and you're not making sense. Sure you didn't hit your head on the way down?"

Yuri's fingers were careful, carding through Flynn's hair to check his skull, but Flynn imagined himself marked in red. "I didn't hit my head. I think I might be going into shock."

"Sounds like." Yuri's voice was a low, even reassurance, and Flynn could feel the heat from Yuri's body, so close in the gloom. "You've got a couple of good scrapes, but your skull's not caved in. How bad is the arm?"

"My fingers can still move normally."

"But it hurts like hell?" Yuri unfastened each plate of armour down Flynn's left arm, then moved to his legs. "I'm gonna leave the other vambrace on you, alright? Even if it's not broken, I'd rather keep it reinforced. I've got a gel somewhere that should help."

Flynn nodded, and Yuri's belt became a sling. "I should have remained in Zaphias." Flynn bent his head, letting Yuri tie the ends of the belt behind his neck. "I don't have the right to act indiscriminately, or choose quests like this anymore. As commandant I can't allow myself to be out of commission, especially because of unofficial business."

"So next time don't fall off a cliff. You have a right to a vacation, same as any other knight. Especially since you're responsible for everybody else. Skipping vacations is probably what drove Alexei off the deep end."

"This was too soon. Zaphias is just rebuilt. I should be working- "

"You think I don't know you're doing the harder job here? You're _good_, Flynn. You keep everything running. Keep everyone safe. To make people smile, remember? Give yourself a break."

"You don't understand. I was there when you killed Cumore. I could have stopped you- could have thrown him the rope at the edge. I didn't. Doesn't it say something, that I've ended up here? Without a rope? With you?"

"Says you landed on _something_ harder than I thought you did, and if it wasn't your head, you've been thinking with somewhere else." Yuri's fingers came up to Flynn's throat, measuring the pace of his blood. "You're the great Flynn Scifo. If anyone up there was trying to make a point, they'd have done it to me."

Flynn looked away, voice gripping the edge of steady. "...After Zaude, I thought they had."

Yuri's hand dropped, and he let out his breath slowly. "Alexei and I really fucked you up, huh?"

Flynn squeezed Yuri's fingers. After a second, Yuri squeezed back.

"Gel now, talk about it later. It's no fun when you can't fight back." Yuri fished the gel out of his pocket and tore the packet, taking the gel between his teeth.

"Is that supposed to be romantic?" Flynn asked.

Yuri glared, then waggled his eyebrows, making something that might have been a kissy face around the gel. It was still warm from Yuri's body, thick lemon coating Flynn's mouth. Yuri's lips were a different heat; brighter, immediate. Yuri's hand cupped the back of his head, keeping him steady while Yuri's tongue chased the last of the gel from the roof of his mouth. Flynn's good hand fisted in the front of Yuri's jacket, and when Yuri pulled away, Flynn's intake of breath was more like a gasp.

Yuri's grin was smug. "That was supposed to be 'my hands are dirty', but I can do romantic."

He pulled back away from Flynn and shrugged out of his jacket, leaving only his pale grey shirt, open nearly to the waist. "Here. It's not going to stay on properly since you stole my belt anyway." He should have been cold, but Flynn was the one who could feel gooseflesh creeping up his skin. Oh. Shock. He bit back his instinctive protest, and let Yuri tuck the jacket around his shoulders backwards, covering his chest like a blanket. "Now scoot forward."

It was awkward trying not to knock the jacket off, but Yuri slid in behind him, wriggled just a little, and then pulled Flynn back against his chest, heat immediately leaching through the fabric of Flynn's uniform. Flynn shivered, and shifted back even more, curling into the circle of Yuri's arms.

Yuri's laugh was a puff of warm air on his neck. "Okay, yeah. I can see why you always looked after me. This is kinda fun."

The green light of the flowers at least don't show the colour of Flynn's face. "Shut up. You offered."

Yuri's grip tightened, and Yuri's jacket trapped both their heat against Flynn's body. Without motion, even the ache in his arm was abating, and Yuri's breath against his ear was slow enough, even enough, that Flynn's own breath steadied in time with it, and the knot in his chest began to relax. He drew his feet up, and Yuri closed his thighs, bracketing Flynn's legs in warmth as well.

"That help?"

With pain and cold and shock retreating, Flynn's eyes were hot.

"Yeah. It helps."


End file.
